Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Holdings Lessened by Arete Wealth Advisors LLC

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 63.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,903 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 10,232 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,001,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 21.9% during the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 312 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Bank lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,296,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the third quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 17,626 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,003,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. W Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 3.1% during the third quarter. W Advisors LLC now owns 2,158 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.7% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,957 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $674,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Melius raised Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $169.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $185.01 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $177.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $151.58. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.26 and a fifty-two week high of $196.04. The firm has a market cap of $512.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.68, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 41.24%.

Oracle Company Profile

Oracle Corporation offers products and services that address enterprise information technology environments worldwide. Its Oracle cloud software as a service offering include various cloud software applications, including Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise performance management, Oracle Fusion cloud supply chain and manufacturing management, Oracle Fusion cloud human capital management, Oracle Cerner healthcare, Oracle Advertising, and NetSuite applications suite, as well as Oracle Fusion Sales, Service, and Marketing.